Lee Auto Malls Gift to Strengthen
USM Muskie School Outreach
The Lee Auto Malls have made a $250,000 gift in honor of community and business leader Shep Lee to fund The Shepard Lee Community Hall, in the new home of USM's Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service.
The Shepard Lee Community Hall will support the USM Muskie School's educational outreach services by providing meeting space that can be used for classes as well as a site for workshops, forums, and other meetings on a range of public policy issues.
In 2005, planning will begin for construction of a new home for the Muskie School on USM's Portland campus. USM's Muskie School offers graduate degrees in community planning, health policy, and public policy. It also is home to three research institutes and three national research centers that conduct applied research on health policies and child and family services, among other areas. Projects range from improving delivery of rural health services in Aroostook County, to training human service workers in Hawaii.
“Shep Lee has been, and continues to be, a very special friend to the University of Southern Maine,” said USM President Richard L. Pattenaude. “Given Shep's longstanding commitment to ensuring Maine's economic and social vitality, it's appropriate that this wonderful gift be used for a facility to enhance civic education.”
Lee, chairman of the board of The Lee Auto Malls, has been involved in his family's auto business since graduating from Bowdoin in 1947. Long recognized as a leader in the industry, President Carter appointed him to a take a lead role in organizing the White House Conference on Small Business. Time magazine recognized him as one of eight outstanding auto dealers in the nation, and more recently he served on the New England Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He has served the University as a member of the USM Muskie School Board of Visitors, the USM School of Business Advisory Council, the USM Institute for Family-Owned Business Advisory Board, and the University of Maine School of Law's Board of Visitors.
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